Frank's Trip to San Diego

I spent the week of January 7th - 14th, 2006 out in San Diego,
California. Part of it was for a meeting, part was for fun,
and, unfortunately, part was spent just trying to shake feeling
sick for a bit.

The trip highlights include going to Balboa park, the zoo, Ocean Beach,
La Jolla, Torrey Pines, and flying over the area. Since I wasn't feeling
that great for part of the time, I didn't take as many pictures as I
normally do.

Here are some highlights.

Click on the thumbnail images to get larger ones (around 100-300K).

Balboa Park

Balboa Park is a pretty huge park in San Diego. There are a dozen or
more museums, wooded areas, a Japanese Friendship Garden, and more.
It's a neat place to see. I was there a couple times, as you can only
scratch the surface any one time.

The Aerospace Museum is a pretty cool place. While it's no Dayton
or Smithsonian, it's got a good number of planes in it, with the occasional
satellite or moon shot command module. They have an SR-71 Blackbird
mounted in front (to the right on the picture) but because it's up
high on a mounting, you can't really see it properly, only the
underside, and from 10-15 feet above you (that's 3-5 meters for our
metric friends).

The coolest part is that it's right on the final approach for the
San Diego airport, so there's a constant stream of planes flying
low overhead, in the landing configuration (gear down, flap down).
Well, constant stream until I wanted to take this picture.
Then I had to wait like 10 minutes. But it's kind of cool.
(Jan 2006)

One of the old building in Balboa park. The architecture is cool.
(Jan 2006)

Looking down a corridor, outside,
in Balboa Park. This is near the model train museum and snack bar.
I wanted to get a shot when no one was around, but that simply was
not possible. There was a constand stream of people walking.
(Jan 2006)

The Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park is the largest outdoor pipe organ.
There are free concerts every Sunday at 2pm. It's pretty cool and pretty
huge and when the organist lets loose, it's pretty loud and echoes off
the buildings nearby.

Organ music still is groups into two categories in my mind:
the bear-driving-a-mini-car-in-the-circus type and the
count-phantom-laughing-menacingly type. Even so, it was still fun.
(Jan 2006)

This was a pretty big, honking tree in the park. It was across
the street from the pipe organ, in a wooded area near a parking lot.
I believe it's a Balboa tree, though I'm not certain. I think I
was alternating feeling cold and hot at that point in time, so I
didn't take many more pictures of the park.
(Jan 2006)

The San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo is an amazing place. Huge. They do a lot of
work with endangered species, studying, breeding, and trying to
help them. It's quite possible that in a few decades or so, zoos
will be looked on in the same light as bear baiting contents,
regardless of their intent. But for now, it is an impressive place.

I was there, like +30 years ago. I was probably 6ish at the time.
My only memories of San Diego are that the zoo smelled bad (I have
been informed that I held a handkerchief to my nose the entire time)
and that the proboscis monkeys were cool. These are the monkeys
with the ridiculously huge noses. I wanted to see them again. That
was my mission.

I failed miserably. Apparently, they've been dead for decades. I
guess a cage full of bones just wasn't drawing the crowds, so they've
long since been removed. After a little digging I found that proboscis
monkeys don't do well in captivity (i.e., they all die, quickly),
and Borneo is the only place in the world where they live, and of course,
their habitats are being destroyed. They're very endangered. I think
I shall not be seeing them again.

But I digress. The zoo is pretty neat.

Flamingos...pink ones even!...doing the kung-fu stork
move. Well, I guess it's the flamingo move, by definition.
Also, note the "exotic" duck to the left. I
do like the lighting.
(Jan 2006)

It's not a probosis monkey. Its nose isn't even enormous.
I need to look up what kind of monkey it is. They have a
large (relatively new) area with all sorts of monkeys.
(Jan 2006)

While it looks monkey-like, the meerkat is a rodent, doing
the prairie-dog sort of thing. Kind of cute in the same way
a squirrel is.
(Jan 2006)

The zookeeper called the elephant by name and it came to
him and then followed him as he walked back and forth,
giving it some exercise. The poles and wire are pretty
sturdy, but it seems like if the elephant got it into its
mind that it wanted out, it would.
(Jan 2006)

At points in time, the zookeeper would have the elephant
do various things and give it some goodies. He made the
trunk gesture with his arm, and the elephant did that.
It sort of looks like the elephant was about to go on a
rampage or something, but really seemed rather content.
(Jan 2006)

A giant panda posing while munching bamboo. They have a
few on loan from China. Any offspring (and the San Diego
Zoo has been able to breed the reluctant species) belong
to China and go back when they're 3.
(Jan 2006)

MMMmmmmmmm...bamboo... A giant panda doing his job.
(Jan 2006)

A peacock was wandering around. At one point it was on
top of a building. He didn't go into full display mode,
so this is as dramatic and colorful as I could get him.
(Jan 2006)

Driving back from the zoo, I stopped at the top of a hill
overlooking San Diego Bay and the airport (looking south)
to watch the sun set.
(Jan 2006)

Flying....

For photos and a description of my flight over the San Diego area,
look here.

La Jolla

I went to La Jolla (pronounced "Lah Hoy-ah"; I'm such a gringo)
which is just north of San Diego.

Some palm trees in a row at the beach at La Jolla.
(Jan 2006)

A park bench by the beach at La Jolla.
(Jan 2006)

There's a big-ass Mormon temple in La Jolla. It's visible
in the distance. I wound up driving by it, but I didn't take
a picture because I wanted to get back to San Diego and avoid
the traffic. After driving for 10 minutes or so, I passed
the temple again. It's located in this configuration
of streets from which escape is nigh-impossible. Amazingly
enough, I eventually managed to find a way out, but it
was a tiny street that didn't look like it would be the one
and only way out.
(Jan 2006)

Torrey Pines

Torrey Pines State Reserve is just north of La Jolla. I didn't actually
go to the park, as it was getting late and I didn't want to pay the
entrance fee since they were closing in 30 minutes. Instead, I just
parked my car in the neighborhood and wandered around by the beach.
There were numerous people carrying surf boards and wearing wet suits,
so it seemed to be the right direction.

Torrey Pines grow natively only in this area and on Santa Rosa Island
off the coast of Santa Barbara. While endangered, they have been cultivated
elsewhere. The trees "battered by the coastal winds" (as mentioned
here) tend to
grow in weird, funky shapes. Upon reflection, I realized why they
seemed familiar in their strangeness. Theodor Geisel lived in La Jolla
for some time. The trees clearly inspired some of the trees in the
Dr. Seuss books.

I parked on a dead-end street and then followed the surfers.
There are, of course, houses with ocean views. To the right of
them would be the dead-end road. To the left are (commuter)
train tracks and then the beach.
(Jan 2006)

A beautiful house with a beautiful view. As I walked from
the dead-end street to the water, there were amazing houses
with amazing views.
(Jan 2006)

Looking from right to left:
The beautiful houses, the railroad tracks (the path I was on branched
off from the train tracks), and then the hill going down to the beach,
with the Pacific Ocean beyond it. Wee little people can be seen on
the beach below, by the water.
(Jan 2006)

Looking out onto the Pacific Ocean, down below. The sun
was getting low, reflecting off the water (though not directly in
the shot), since it was getting late in the day. The wet rocky
surface by the water looked like it had a really cool texture to it.
(Jan 2006)

Dr. Seuss trees! Torrey Pines along the path. This is not on
the beach side of the railroad tracks, these very cool trees are
in people's yards.
(Jan 2006)

The beach way down below. You can see a few small people. It
was high enough up that I didn't feel like taking some steep trail
down and then back up again. I was still not at 100%.
(Jan 2006)

Another Dr. Seuss tree! A Torrey Pine. I was standing on the railroad
tracks to take it. Yes, I looked both ways to make sure it was clear.
A train did pass once I had left.
(Jan 2006)

As I was leaving, I stopped for a view of the valley. There were
two hot air balloons aloft, visible as small specks in the picture.
The traffic on the highway is also visible. Fortunately, it wasn't
really that bad, once I managed to find and wind my way back to San
Diego.
(Jan 2006)